My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora /// Yewande Komolafe

An acclaimed food writer and cook celebrates the many cuisines found in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, with 75 recipes that mirror her own powerful journey of self-discovery.

The city of Lagos, Nigeria, is a key part of a larger conversation about West African cuisine and its influences throughout the world. My Everyday Lagos consists of 75 dishes that are all served in recipe developer and food stylist Yewande Komolafe’s fast-paced, ever-changing home city of Lagos. These recipes reflect the regional cooking of the country and reveal two complementary qualities of Nigerian cuisine—its singularity and accessibility. Along the way, through informative essays that place ingredients in historical context, Yewande explains how in a country where dozens of ethnic groups interact, a cuisine has developed that transcends tribal boundaries.

Yewande’s personal narrative is woven throughout the book and cautions against being burdened by notions of authenticity. To those in the African diaspora, this book highlights food that may have been adapted and integrated into the cuisines of the places they live. The bukas of London, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Toronto, and Newark all have their unique vision of Nigeria and are reflected in their food. The recipes, including classics like Jollof Rice, Puff Puff, and Groundnut Stew, are a starting point for the home cook, allowing them to trust the ingredients and achieve the variety of textures and flavors Nigerian food is known for. Beautiful photographs of the city and its people invite readers into the energy and pulse of Lagos, while the food photography entices them to make each and every dish in the book.

This stunning cookbook is Yewande Komolafe’s in-depth exploration of a cuisine as well as the definitive book on Lagos cuisine that reveals the nuances of regions and peoples, diaspora and return—but also tells her own story of gathering the scattered pieces of herself through understanding her home country and food.